Asia

2011

It's easy to use polarizing descriptions
of online news-gathering. It's the domain of citizen journalists, blogging without
pay and institutional support, or it's a sector filled with the digital works
of "mainstream media" facing financial worries and struggling to offer employees
the protection they once provided. But there is a growing middle ground:
trained reporters and editors who work exclusively online on projects born independent
of traditional media. They share many of the practices of an older generation
of reporters, but their work draws from the decentralized and agile practices of
the digital world.

China's latest media regulations,
issued Thursday in a bid to take some steam out of microblogs that increasingly
drive the country's news agenda, signal an increased role for the state in
drafting and enforcing press standards.

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Wednesday's
post, "Advice for colleagues on
the digital front lines," offered practical advice for keeping a website up and
running in a hostile political environment. But such measures
are not universally applicable. Sky Canaves, CPJ's new East Asia and Internet
consultant in Hong Kong, sent this reality check for Internet writers in China, where
tighter government scrutiny has driven online users to turn to other tactics.

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New York, November 10, 2011--A Bangladeshi editor was
rearrested on the same day he was released on bail, as he was leaving the gate
of the prison, news reports said.

Police detained
Ekramul Haque, editor of Sheershanews website
and Sheersha Kagoj weekly, on
extortion charges on July 31. On October 25, the High Court in the country's
capital, Dhaka, granted the journalist bail,
and he was released on November 1. But he was arrested again at the gate of the
jail as he was leaving, news website bdnews24 reported.

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New
York, November 10, 2011--The Committee to
Protect Journalists is concerned by the Sri Lankan government's announcement of
an upcoming set of guidelines and code of conduct for journalists and media organizations, and believes these
regulations will only increase the government's control of the media.

The announcement, which appeared Thursday in the government-owned Daily News, said the government would "soon introduce a set of guidelines and a code of conduct for media to be adhered to by all media institutions and media persons in the country."The announcement also stated that the government would set up the guidelines, which would be enforced under the relevant laws.

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If you're running a website that's come under attack, or is
likely to, here is some advice on how to protect yourself.

First, a little background:

On Monday we filed an alert
about the Sri Lankan government's blocking of at least five websites there. The move silenced just about all of the
country's independent online voices. Two websites, Groundviews and its sister Sinhala siteVikalpa,
have survived a few temporary
takedowns, but for now they seem to be about the last two journalism sites posting
independent analyses about Sri Lankan politics that are still up and running.

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In the latest sign of increasing pressure on Chinese
companies to tighten control of the Internet, Chinese authorities convened an
unusual seminar in Beijing for senior executives of 39 major enterprises
involved in Internet services, technology and telecommunications.

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New York, November 7, 2011--The
body of missing Pakistani journalist Javed Naseer Rind was found on Saturday
morning in Khuzdar, 186 miles (300 kilometers) south of the city of Quetta, local and
international news reports said. The journalist had been shot multiple times in
the head and chest, and his body showed multiple signs of torture, the local
media reported.

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New York, October 31, 2011--The Committee to Protect
Journalists condemns the imprisonment of two Tibetan writers, one of whom was sentenced
after a year of detention without trial, according to reports.